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Ludo Philippaerts takes Thursday's biggest class in St. Gallen

Thursday, 29 May 2014

Belgium is on fire at the moment; Ludo Philippaerts and Challenge V. Begijnakker won the 1.50 class in St. Gallen on Thursday. Photo by World of Showjumping. Belgium's Ludo Philippaerts stole the win in the 1.50 class in St. Gallen, Switzerland on Thursday. The afternoon class had 61 riders in it, with eleven riders going clear – and no less than ten riders being left with one or more time faults as the time target set was quite tight. Taking an early lead, it looked like the winner would be home rider Niklaus Rutschi on the lovely Windsor XV (Karandasj x Wellington) setting the time to beat at 41.33 after racing around the shortened track.

Sweden's Douglas Lindelöw and the always fast Talina (Matterhorn x Heidelberg) tried to catch Rutschi, but was still over a second behind slotting into temporary runner-up position. And as last in the huge grass ring in St. Gallen, Ludo would be the one to steal the win to a Belgium that is on fire at the moment – as he set Challenge V. Begijnakker (Chellano Z x Palestro V. Begijnakker) in top gear from beginning to end shaving the time down to 41.09 seconds.

Earlier in the day Spanish rider Gonzalo Anon Suarez won the 1.45 class on Tobias (Lux x Fedor), while the 1.40 class went to French rider Julien Epaillard on Pigmalion du Rozel (Le Tot de Semilly).